5/5 ★ – AngelSntsss's review of Batman: Arkham Knight.

Batman: Arkham Knight - Loving the imperfect finale. After years of wanting to do a legit playthrough from one end to the other, to experience the full complete story of this version of the caped crusader, I finally got the opportunity to do it, so why after going through the Asylum, gliding through the City, experiencing the Origin, and beating the Knight. I happened to fall in love with the black sheep of this franchise. Arkham Knight was, and still is, the most divisive game in this franchise and is very clearly why, because from each perfectly executed predator sequence, from each free flow arena combat, to each piece of incredibly written scenes and dialogue, there is always an ugly, batank side of the coin; What Arkham Knight is, to me, is the culmination of every system Rocksteady developed for years, every characters, good or bad, every plot point or easter egg, Arkham Knight was truly the finale of the Arkham Batman. The system of the free flow combat is the smoothest it’s ever been, while also being at its most challenging, from just the numbers of enemies on screen, to the intricate design of the different types, from medics, sowrdsman, brutes with every weapon, the free flow combat feels like it’s design to put you between a sword and a wall, but the thing is, is that you’re fucking Batman, you hit harder, you move faster, and if you are a good enough player you can beat every combat situation without taking a hit, because that’s how good the system has become, comparing this to the original Asylum combat, where every input felt, to me, like a randomizer on if Batman was going to land the hit or not, or if the counter input will register at time, to Arkham Knight where I know, if I failed, it’s because I was not good enough, because even though there are medics that can revive and electrify enemies, or brutes that need massive beat down times to put down, the game taught me and showed me a system where the only way to win was to have perfect rhythm, perfect meter usage and counters. And the same thing could be said for the predator sequences, I am the type of player that if I get spotted, I restart, why?, because I’m fucking Batman, and Batman doesn’t get spotted. So if I failed a predator sequence, it was because I didn’t take my time to see the room, to see the types of enemies that I had to deal with, or turrets, drones, gadgets. The predator sequences went from being a part in Asylum that I thought were sort of stale, to City where everything just felt right, to in Knight being my absolute favorite part of the game. Every predator sequence found a way to make me stay in a vantage point, analyze the room, wait for my perfect moment, enemy or gadget to start. And yes, the disruptor and the multi-fear takedown x5 sometimes made it a little bit too easy, but most of the time, the tools that I had felt just like they should, they opened my creativity to see how Batman can take out a room of 10 people in 3 minutes. But then, there is the ugly side of the coin. The Batmobile, we wished for it, begged for it, and Rocksteady gave it to us. The Batmobile can be summoned, can be driven at incredible speeds with incredible sound design, driving it is a really cool experience, summoning it while gliding and seeing Batman hit a diving animation is sick, but you know what is not sick? The multiple, multiple tank sequences, not only for battles, but also those stupid cobra tank sequences, and that forensic investigation ray or something, and yes, those sequences, for the first few times are fun, they’re exciting but when you have so many of them, when so much of the games makes you feel that you have to be tied to the Batmobile, the game starts to feel more les a Batmobile simulator than a Batman game. Everything in those Batmobile sequences are cool, and in my opinion really enjoyable, but when I have to fight 20+ tanks for the 10th time, or a 5th cobra tank sneaking section, I get really tired of it. I’ve complained about the story in Asylum and City, calling it bare bones, without characters, and more than a story, they feel more like plot points to hit than an actual Batman story; Well Arkham Knight has a story, I dare even say, a really really good story. In the context of the Arkham Games, besides Origins, Batman is nothing but stoic, cold and silent type of character, he has the great Kevin Conroy giving it his all, but you can tell this Batman feels angrier, what I think is so great about the Arkham Knight is that Batman is challenged emotionally and psychologically, it asks if Batman is like this, if it’s a Batman that constantly pushes Tim Draker, Barbara, Gordon, and Dick what happens when he faces his biggest mistake. Yes, we all knew Jason was the Arkham Knight, it was a dumb idea to push that he was a unique character when we all knew it was Jason, and the thing is, is not a bad idea to end this story with Jason; Jason Todd will always be Batman biggest mistake, his biggest failure, a constant reminder that he made a mistake, so if the final chapter in this Batman’s story is him learning to care, learning to love, learning to care, putting him against his biggest mistake and the villain that can make his fears come true is the only right decision. Throughout the ominous ending of how the Batman died, we learned how it died, Bruce Wayne needed to die for the Batman to live on, that is the tragic ending of our cape crusader i this franchise, but to some it feels tragic, to me, while experiencing the last main and side missions of the game, Batman felt more emotional than ever, telling Dick he’s proud of him, showing sympathy for Croc, and the reveal of Jason and seeing Batman begging one of his sons to stop it and to come back home, and my god that Mr. Freeze side mission and sending Nora and Victor away for their maybe short but happy ending. Batman for the first time, besides Origins, felt like he cared about his family, about actually helping those rogues who can be helped, to me Arkham Knight is the story of a Batman who was so filled with apathy, resentment and anger, learning how to love, how to care once again, for one final night. Arkham Knight will always be the most imperfect, messy finale to one of the best gaming franchise of all time, and with all it’s messiness, all the good and the bad, Arkham Knight taught me how I can love something imperfect, how one of my favorite games of all time, is a mess.